Even before the pandemic, young people in the UK were facing multiple crises - deteriorating mental health & climate anxiety. Our aim is to create safe spaces for children aged 5-11 to begin to connect to their values & build the skills needed to critically reflect, compassionately listen and empathetically take action. To help them make stronger connections with their home, classroom & community.
The Big Think is a constantly evolving programme that asks challenging Big Questions about Big Issues happening now in real-life. Our diverse team of authors write Big Stories in response to local, national or global events that young people are curious about, like food insecurity in working families during the pandemic (Resilience), or taking the knee for BLM at football matches (Justice). TBT enables a community of practice to develop with everyone exploring & reflecting on a Value & SEL skill e,g. PEACE and Self-Regulation. So far, our 2-year rolling programme comprises 120 multimedia Assembly & Lesson kits accessible online & intended to free up teachers to become facilitators that guide & inspire. Our 1-year pilot study positively impacted staff who said it ‘strengthened our school community ethos’, learners who said they had ‘deeper feelings of global citizenship & increased awareness of the Global Goals’ and parents who noticed ‘increased self-esteem and resilience at home’.
Adapting to the pandemic restrictions, we developed a free ‘Circles of CARE’ resource to enable learners to reconnect and recover with their teacher and peers. After being verified & recommended by Anna Freud Centre - Mentally Healthy Schools, it was downloaded over 1000 times & generated much interest in TBT. Our Values-in-Action projects partner TBT schools & charities with a joint cause & these projects always attract interest from schools who want to create their own changemakers. We currently gain most new schools by running a free virtual bi-weekly workshop to train staff in RSE, Values & SEL to support the mental health of teaching staff & their learners at this challenging time. To further increase participation, we are piloting Parent/Carer Consultation Workshops in TBT schools.
Access a sample TBT Assembly & Lesson kit on our website. Try the Silent Sitting meditation, sing the Values songs, read the Big Story & view the Lesson Plans, Assembly Screens, Journals to see how they fit together. Join our next free workshop to understand how we develop SEL skills through human values, then request a temporary membership so your colleagues can explore the full programme.
